Professor Adam Nelson
- Position: Professor of Chemical Biology
- Areas of expertise: high-throughput bioactive molecule discovery; chemical biology; chemical proteomics; synthesis of biologically active compounds.
- Email: A.S.Nelson@leeds.ac.uk
- Phone: +44(0)113 343 6502
- Location: G15 School of Chemistry
- Website: Nelson research group | Astbury website | X | LinkedIn | Googlescholar | ORCID
Profile
I am Professor of Chemical Biology and Head of the Chemistry for Biology & Health section within the School of Chemistry and Deputy Director of the Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology. I was appointed as a Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Leeds in 1998, and was promoted to a personal chair in 2005. I was awarded the 2018 UCB-Ehrlich Award by the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry.
Responsibilities
- Deputy Director, Astbury Centre for Structural Molecular Biology
- Head, Chemistry for Biology & Health section, School of Chemistry
Research interests
My group is interested in synthetic organic chemistry and its application to biological problems. We develop and apply high-throughput approaches for bioactive molecular discovery that integrate, for example, algorithms, plate-based chemistry, automation and biological evaluation. We have developed activity-directed synthesis, a structure-blind, function-driven approach to the discovery of bioactive small molecules. We then apply these new approaches to discover tools that can be used to interrogate biological mechanisms. Current and recent applications of our chemical probes have been in areas as diverse as protein kinase (cancer) biology; trypanosome (T. brucei) biology and bacteriology (Chlamydia). Browse our research pages to find out more about what we do!
Prospective PhD students may apply for PhD studentships with me via the School of Chemistry, or via managed PhD programmes funded by BBSRC or MRC (closing date: generally early January each year).
<h4>Research projects</h4> <p>Some research projects I'm currently working on, or have worked on, will be listed below. Our list of all <a href="https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/dir/research-projects">research projects</a> allows you to view and search the full list of projects in the faculty.</p>Primary investigator (PI)
Co-investigator (Co-I)
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Cambridge (1996)
- MA, University of Cambridge (1993)
Professional memberships
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry
Student education
I teach organic chemistry and chemical biology at undergraduate and taught postgraduate levels. I supervise Masters research projects in the chemical biology area.
Research groups and institutes
- Chemical Biology and Medicinal Chemistry
Projects
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<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/project/2488-covalent-stereoprobes:-chemical-tools-for-biomedical-discovery">Covalent stereoprobes: Chemical tools for biomedical discovery</a></li>